Running head: SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE #1

Service Learning Experience #1 Cayla Sandlin Ivy Tech Community College

Running head: SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE #1 Standard #9 Professional Learning and Ethical Practice The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his or her practice, particularly the effects of his or her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the need of each leaner.

Name of Artifact: Service Learning Experience #1 Date: February 15, 2013 Course: EDUC 101

Brief Description: Throughout this paper, I will reflect my first Service Learning experience by sharing interesting stories and feelings that occurred to me during my volunteer time. In this paper, I will elaborate on the learning environment and discuss what the supervisors at the after school program at Edna Martin Christian Center are like. I will also talk about the children and how only four and a half hours into my Service Learning experience, they have already filled me with joy and impacted my life.

Rationale: Standard #9, Professional Learning and Ethical Practice, is an important standard to the content of my paper because I am continuing my education into a professional education. To support this standard, I am also effecting the children I am interacting with at my Service Learning location. As a bonus, I am meeting other adult volunteers, some of whom are college students in the same career field as me. My Service Learning experience allows me to better my social skills around students and helps me to interact with them on their level.

Running head: SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE #1 Abstract This paper is a collaboration of my experiences during the first two days of my Service Learning at the Edna Martin Christian Center. The reader will discover what I endured during the first time I walked in the building. I will express my thoughts and feelings of my first experience and you will find out that I am learning a lot from the kids that I am interacting with. Though my Service Learning is not located at School #56 with the rest of my colleagues, I am

thoroughly enjoying my experience. I will discuss, in depth, what learning environment is like at the facility, what the supervisors are like, and I will talk about the students as well. I am building such a strong rapport with the kids and adults, hopefully Edna Martin Christian Center will be a place I volunteer at often.

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Introduction Edna Martin Christian Center. Its definitely not IPS School #56 where all the other students in my Introduction to Teaching course are doing their Service Learning. To read the name, I see the word Christian. Thats my religion as well, so I was curious to see if praying or God was included in the students education. When I walked into the one-story building, I noticed a big room with a small stage. The room had about fifteen tables with about six chairs at each table. Each of those tables was full of hyper kids. There were kids running around the room. I got the feeling that the kids were not on strict orders to sit and study, but they were at their free will to do homework and to receive help from the adults in the room. At this point, Im nervous. Actually, I was nervous all day prior to my Service Learning orientation. While I sat, waiting for Jamie, whoever she is, to retrieve me, I thought about the location of my Service Learning. Though most of the students in my class are at School #56, Im pretty excited to be at a different location. I like the thought of having different stories to share in class and its pretty neat to be in a whole new environment. I thought, while I was sitting there, waiting, Im excited! The Learning Environment Like I mentioned, the room that looks like a cafeteria is full of tables and chairs. Kids are running around. Im still waiting for Jamie. I observe adults sitting one-on-one with kids. It looks like they are tutoring the kids. Is that what I will be doing? I think about the smell. Its musty. It smells like an old pantry. The adults at the front desk are welcoming. Prior to sitting down to wait for Jamie, I had to sign a book that read Edna Martin Christian Center: Welcome. I like the thought of having a sign-in and out bookits just nice to know whos coming and going. The very first thing I noticed before I saw the cafeteria-looking room with

Running head: SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE #1 energetic kids and before the weird smell could read my brain to process what it might be, I noticed the kidsI was a minority. I only saw two white students amongst a primarily African-

American setting. All the adults were African-American as well. My heart is color blind, so Im not uncomfortable. I havent found this out yet, but the classroom I will be in is the cafeterialooking room. After school, first graders to sixth graders are transported from their schools to the Edna Martin Christian Center to the Centers after school program. Each adult that is in the room is a volunteer. As a volunteer, we float from child to child asking how we can help with their homework. If the student is finished with their work, they are free to make crafts, read a book, or just talk to friends. At 5:30, the children get to go outside to the playground. On a nice weathered day, the kids get to play outside until about 6:30. They are allowed to come in and out from the playground. Basically, the Christian Center is their oyster. I found out why the Christian Center had a musty, old pantry smell. The kids that stay in after school care until 6:30 get to eat dinner. Prior to eating dinner, the students, staff, and volunteers say a prayer. By 7 oclock, all students are either picked up by their parents or transported home on an Edna Martin Christian Center shuttle bus. Finally! Jamie approaches me with a huge smile and shakes my hand. She is a younger girl, not too much old than me. Jamie looks exhausted! Before I knew her role at the Christian Center, I saw her running around, giving kids orders, and helping the kids get situated at their tables when they arrived to the Center. She showed me around the Edna Martin Christian Center. Its just a messy, cluttered room. Wrappers and gummies were everywhere, Colts posters on the walls, kids running in the hallways, markers scattered everywhere, and books and boxes piled in random places. Jamie informed me that they are in the process of moving the Edna Martin Christian Center to a new location, just north of where they are located. So, hopefully a lot of the clutter and mess is due to packing. After Jamie

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showed me around the small facility, she took me to the Blue Room. The Blue Room is looks like a little library. There are shelves with kid books on the walls and a desk for a teacher to sit. When I entered the room with Jamie, I had a seat at the table. There were a few kids in the Blue Room getting books. Jamie tried her best to shoo them away so we could have our orientation, but the kids were reluctant to go. Throughout our entire orientation, which lasted about fifteen minutes, kids ran in and out of the Blue Room looking for books and asking for Jamie. I could tell the kids loved Jamie. The Supervisors Because I am at an after school program, there really isnt a need for a teacher to teach. However, Jamie and Lauren are the two head honchos, or supervisors. I got to know Jamie a little bit during orientation, but I didnt have the chance to meet Lauren. Jamie was super kind and comfortable to be around. She was really excited to have my help at the Center, although she forgot about our orientation. Jamie informed me that if I ever need a job or just want to volunteer, that Edna Martin Christian Center always needs extra adult help. I loved how welcomed I felt. After getting to know Jamie, she decided it was best to meet Lauren. Jamie and I found Lauren in the cafeteria-looking room. She was helping a few kids with their homework. Lauren, like Jamie, was very eager to meet me. She flashed me a huge smile and shook my hand. After orientation, I asked Jamie if it was okay if I started my Service Learning today. She was so excited and told me to stay as long as Id like. The facility has an open door policy to loving volunteers. Just by meeting Jamie and Lauren, I knew I would love my Service Learning at the Edna Martin Center. When 6:30 rolled around, I decided I would leave. Jamie signed off on my log sheet, and then gave me a huge hug. I left feeling so welcomed. The Hyper Kiddos

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The kids are so hyper. Im sure being away from their desk as school has a lot to do with their behaviors. Jamie and Lauren dont run a tight ship. As long as the students are save and attempting to do their homework, everything is fine. The kids are allowed to talk to each other and leave the room when they want. It didnt appear to me that there were any students with a severe disability. Every student spoke English, so communication was east. It was actually more intimidating for me to get to know the kids than it was to meet Jamie and Lauren. I didnt know how to work my way in or how to converse with them. Luckily, Jamie introduced me to a young man. He is a second grader at School #56, where my colleagues are doing their Service Learning. I helped the boy finish his homework and afterwards, I asked what hed like to do. He wanted me to read a story to him. So, he ran back to the Blue Room and grabbed a few books. After about ten minutes of reading, he and I had some small talk about sports and his school. I asked him if he liked the dinners Edna Martin Christian Center serves and he said sometimes the food is good. Soon after, Jamie announced that its time to go outside if anyone wants. I went outside with the kids and since I used to play womens tackle football, I thought a good icebreaker would be to play toss with some of the sixth grade boys. They loved having an adult who could throw and catch, but it was even cooler to them since Im a girl. While I was playing football, the sixth grade girls sat on a bench and giggled while they watched the boys. My second day at Edna Martin Christian Center was Valentines Day. The kids were very excited about their Valentines and candy. Jamie and Lauren allowed the kids to eat any and all the candy they wanted while they did their homework. I asked a group of first and second graders if I could sit with them and help them with their homework. While we sat at the table, they showed off their Valentines to me. I got to know so many kids that day and realized I was building good rapports with these kids. These kids just soak up attention. They want love and friendship.

Running head: SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE #1 None of the kids I met were hard to talk totheyre all open to meeting people and having a conversation. One little girl asked if I will come back to the Christian Center even after I graduate college. I really hope to have a long lasting relationship with Edna Martin Christian Center. Conclusion The little facility, created by a loving, Christian woman years ago, is such a remarkable place. I talked to an elderly lady who spends a lot of her time volunteering at the Christian Center just because she wants to. She knew Edna Martin from there young adult years and told me interesting things about Edna. I am sure the late Edna is pleased with how the facility has maintaining. Even though Edna did not allow chewing gum and the kids were eating their Valentine treats, I know she is blessed to have loving Christian volunteers who teach children how to praythats all Edna wanted. I am very excited to continue to bond with the kids, hopefully all approximately thirty-five them. Most of the children in the after school program

stay until 7 oclock. The children that stay late dont get a lot of family time. Although I cannot make up for their family, I hope to enrich their lives and help them finish their homework so that the little time they do have at home with their moms and dads is valuable.